14months post-op and 4months pregnant

I'm starting on a new journey. I am pregnant with our first child, due June 2012. I've wanted to share this news here for quite a while, but I kinda figured I needed to tell my family and my boss before telling this world (as I know there is a bit of overlap).

I was a bit nervous when we first found out (heck, I still am - this is a big change!), as I had assumed that I would be high-risk, due to my surgery. According to my doctor I am not high risk! I am young (25yrs now), and quite healthy (as I had to be in order to donate) and thus I am at the higher end of normal risk, but still normal.
I have to say, this was a bit of a relief to find out! They will still keep an extra eye on my blood pressure and do a bit of extra monitoring but other than that they anticipate this being a normal and healthy pregnancy.

Being pregnant did bring to mind all of the risks they warned me about prior to surgery - the increased risk of pre-eclampsia, hypertension, pre-term labor, and low birth weight. What I have been thinking about is that this 'increased risk' took me from less than 1% chance to less than 3%. Which means that I have a 97% chance of no complications.

This is one of those things - it's one thing when being pregnant is an abstract thought of something that may happen at some undetermined point in the future, and another when that second line comes up on the pregnancy test.
Granted, I am still early in the pregnancy, and June is still 6 months away, but from where I stand now, if I could know what I know now back then, I would totally do it all over again. I am young, I am healthy, and the 3% chance is still not enough to balance out the good the my kidney has done for someone else (and their family!).

I know this might be silly, but I kinda figure that since all the organs get squished and pushed out of the way, having only one kidney gives this kid some extra room to grow/move around.

I will continue to come back to this blog, to share updates on life with one kidney, and to let you know how being pregnant with one kidney is going. If I haven't posted, chances are that means things are going so well I don't really have anything to report.

I know this is a new can of worms, so please let me know if you have any questions on life with one kidney, the surgery, recovery, and now how it is having an impact on this new journey. I don't think I am the only person to get pregnant with one kidney, but in this new digital age, I may be one of the few that is willing to blog about the experience. If you would like me to post more frequent updates, let me know as well - I'm happy to post if it will help someone out there.

Now She Knows

So this weekend I told my Mom and Dad about my plans to donate. I was terrified. Nervous. I wanted positive support.

So here's how it went:
My husband and I took my Mom and Dad out to dinner to celebrate their birthday's (which are only weeks apart), and upon returning home, the four of us sat down to play some cards and I got things started.

Me: Mom, I'm thinking of donating a kidney.
Her: Please don't.
 *Crap! Not the response I was looking for.*

But, have no fear, it did get better. The approach I took to this coversation was that I was there to get her thoughts and feelings, and to share information. This was not a sales job. This was information distribution.

So we started talking. She didn't really have a lot of questions for me, but looked as though there were many things she wanted to know. So I volunteered some information, I told her about the tests I had been through, how extensive they are, and what the process has been like thus far.
I also discussed with her the risks. Her main point is that I haven't had children yet, and she was worried about the risks both to me, and to any kids I may have.

Great. That I can handle. So we talked about them fairly extensively. Very happy that I had done my research and was able to provide quantifiable numbers to back up my points. I am very thankful that my husband was there with me. He was able to articulate things in a way that I was having issues with, and between the two of us, we remembered most of the research we've done. Having his support in telling the family was huge, and I think having his support helped my parents be more supportive as well.

Interesting point, Mom didn't seem to care that it was anonymous, her first concern was me. That made me feel pretty good actually, to know that above all she loves me and just wants me to be safe.
She is concerned about pregnancy and how hard it is on the body, and how hard it will be on mine with only one kidney, but with more information I think will be okay. Actually, she said she'd be terrified the entire time as it is major surgery, but that was her job as my mother.


My Dad on the other hand, he didn't say too much about this. His main comment was "you don't mess with Mother Nature." Duly noted.

Thankfully, they both did say that this was not their news to share, and would not be telling anyone else about this. Also, we talked about this on Saturday night, and had a normal Sunday, which was really wonderful. We were able to enjoy the time that we had together and not let this overshadow everything else.
Very glad that this is all done. Well, not all done. Its the In-Laws next weekend.